Earthquake Rattles New Jersey

TRENTON — Authorities in Trenton, the state capital, said that the small earthquake struck central New Jersey. It rattled windows and alarmed residents of several communities. Paul Kirkland, a seismologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, said that a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5 was recorded at 10:34 pm on Friday.

Its epicentre was in the Morris County communities of Rockaway, Dover and Morris Plains. Several buildings at the epicenter were damaged in the quake and fifteen people were reported to have been injured. One on duty police officer, Hector Ramirez (45) was killed when masonry from a nearby building toppled onto his cruiser.
Police said that the quake triggered a flood of emergency calls, with residents reporting a sound like an explosion and houses shaking. Mr.Kirkland said that despite the reports of panic among members of the public, small earthquakes are not unusual in the central New Jersey.

This magnitude, however was unusual. NJPD officers are currently cooperating with agents from the Department of Homeland Security to see if there was any Evolved involvement with the quake.

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